Non-rotational shock and vibration absorbers



July l, 1958 J. A. HUMBLE 2,841,354

NON-ROTATIONAL vSHOCK AND VIBRATION ABSORBERS Filed Nov. 23, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I7 @if 218 ///v /////f /M/ f l w It o v m qu. m

ATTYS.

July 1, 1958 J. A. HUMBLE 2,841,354

NON-ROTATIONAL SHOCK AND VIBRATION ABSORBERS Filed NOV. 23, 1954 2 Sheets-Shee 2 33 34 le 23\ 2| fvzz 29 27 l V /1/ /r A INVENTOR. JOHN A. HUMBLE.

BY /f/ l gaz eM/7d AT 'rYs.

United States Zili- Patented July 1, 1953 NON-ROTATIONAL SHOCK AND VIBRATION ABSORBERS .lohn A. Humble, Indianapolis, Ind., assigner to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy Application November 23, 1954, Serial No. 470,841

2 Claims. (Cl. 248-358) (Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

This invention relates to a shock and vibration absorber and more particularly to an absorber for mounting a precision instrument, such as a gyroscope, in a resilient manner, such that the instrument will not rotate about any axis. The invention disclosed herein is similar to an invention made of Kenneth E. Goode, entitled, Shock and Vibration Mount Having Non-rotational Features, described in United States application No. 460,785, led October 6, 1954, now Patent No. 2,809,005, however the present invention incorporates improvements therein by using fluid dampening means, nylon bearings for guiding linear motion, and tube form mountings for vibration isolation.

Precision instruments that are mounted in aircrafts and naval ships are subjected to various types of damaging forces. One type of damaging force is that of vibration which can be caused by an unbalanced force, such as a rotating mass. This type of damaging force is often applied over long periods of time and if not minimized will cause failure due to fatiguing of parts. Another type of damaging force is that of shock which, for example, can be caused by an aircraft making a landing or by the reaction due to the iring of a projectile. Shocks usually are of large magnitude and if not minimized will cause fracture or breakage of sensitive componentsv in precision instruments.

Normally the same absorber is employed to protect an instrument from both vibration and shock. However, there is an inherent disadvantage to this method of isolation because shocks are often of large magnitude, and if the absorbing means are designed to give complete shock protection then vibration dampening will be insuicient and failure in an instrument will result due to fatigue. On the other hand, if the resilient absorbing means are designed toV give full vibration protection, there will be insuicient dampening of large shocks and failure will be due to breakage of fragile elements. Heretofore most available types of absorbers are designed for a median condition and only provide for partial protection of vibration and shock.

The invention described herein eliminates the disadvantages of heretofore available absorbers and provides for complete protection against both vibration and shock. The present invention employs tube form mountings for vibration isolation, which allow the resilient members, composed of rubber elements bondedV to steel elements, to be stressed in shear. A shear stressed rubber mounting provides for a soft suspension and yet provides for stability in directions normal to the major thrusts. The resilient members which are used in the embodiment shown in the present invention are designed to give full vibration protection. Additional novel fluid dampening means are employed to give protection against damag ing shocks. Columns of air are provided above the resilient tube form mountings, and small oriiices control the rate of air discharge. The size of the orifices are of suiicient magnitude to allow full vibration isolation, yet are small enough to restrict discharge of air when a shock is applied. Thus, When a damaging shock is applied to the absorber, an additional air cushion is employed for dampening.

Although the combination of the resilient members and the novel uid dampening means can be employed in many types of absorbers, one particular use can be in an absorber designed for mounting a gyroscope. A gyroscope can be used to measure the degree of rotation between one of its own axes and an axis of an aircraft, and when so employed any rotation of a gyroscope due to the rocking of an absorber will introduce an error into the gyroscopes output data.

One method of eliminating rotation due to the rocking of an instrument on its resilient members is to provide for motion control means that allow the absorber to translate only in three mutually perpendicular planes. One of the better known methods for obtaining linear motion is to have shafts, which are closely tted through bushings, guide the translating members. Heretofore the shafts were tted through either metal bushings or ball bushings, but either method had certain inherent disadvantages. If metal bushings are employed, a lubrication problem is involved due to the close tting of the shafts and also extreme shocks may distort the metal bushings. The use of ball bushings as a guiding means has a disadvantage in that the oscillatory motion is often so small that the balls in the bushings do not revolve and thus the same surfaces are continually in use and at portions will develop thereon.

The present invention shows the use of polyamide resinous material such as nylon as a bearing material to be used in conjunction with the novel iluid dampening means and the tube form mounting means. The use of nylon eliminates the need of lubrication since there is relatively low heat generation. Also nylon is a resilient material and capable of taking great stresses without resulting in permanent distortion.

It is therefore a general object of this invention to provide an absorber that will give full protection against both vibration and shock and in particular to provide an improved shock and vibration absorber for use in mounting precision instruments, such as gyroscopes. Other objects and many attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a top plan view showing the complete invention,

Fig. 2 is a side view partially broken away and partially in section, showing the dampening elements,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 and shows the iluid dampening means, and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged partial sectional view taken on line 4 4 of Fig. l, showing tube form mountings and nylon bushings.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, there is shown in Figs, 1 and 2 that four shafts 11 are mounted perpendicular to a base 12 and secured thereto by means of nuts 13. Figs 2 and 3 of the drawings show tube form mountings 14,V

such as those described in bulletin No. 104 of the Lord Manufacturing Company, Erie, Pennsylvania, disposed about each shaft 11 and maintained in position by snubv bing washers l5 and retaining rings 16. Vertical tubes 17 areV press fitted on the outside'diameter of thetube form mountings 14 and nylon bearings 18 and 19 are secured to the vertical tubes 17 by pins 2t). VThe nylon, bearings `1S and 19 have inside diametersjthat are only' slightly larger than, the outside diameters of the shafts 11 and these bearings restrict translation to a direction that is perpendicular to the base 12. In addition to guiding the vertical tubes 17 in a direction normal to thebase 12, the nylon bearings 1S and Y19 serve as additionalV 23 is press 'ittedkinto lthe bore of the vertical tube 17 and i the inner sleeve 22 is close tted about the shaft 11 and securedein position by means of snubbing washersV 15 and retaining rings 16. When the vertical vtube 17 moves relative to the shaft 11, it can beseen that'the outer sleeve 213i will move rrelative to the inner sleeve 22, which remains stationary,'and.thus a shearing action takes place in therubber element '21. This shearing action in the rubber element 221. provides for necessary vibration isolation needed to protect precision instruments, the shear stressed rubber providing a soft suspension, yet allowing stability in the `other modes Aof travel.

Referring YVstill to Fig. 3, it can berseen that there s'an air chamber' located above the nylon bearing 18'and a second air chamber 25 located below the nylon bearing 18.- 'in operation, when the vertical tube 17 is undergoing small oscillatory motion, the two orifices 26, which are-of relatively small jmagnitude, will allow complete release Yof airand no additional dampening will take place. However,wvhen alarge 'shock is imparted to the vertical tube 1'7, largemovernent occurs and the air in the two chambers 24 and25will be compressed, and since the Vorifices A26' are of suiciently small magnitude there will bea .restricted ow of air thus bringing into f effect a liuiddampening means.

VThesize of the oritices'26 depends upon a number of Yvariables such'as the inside diameter of the ,air'cha'mbers and retaining rings 16 secure the inner sleeve 22 to the VVshaft-27 and it can readily be seen'that any movement of the carriage member 29 willecause the outer sleeve 23 to move relative to the inner sleeve 22, causing a shearing action in the rubber element 21. YThe shearing action of the rubber element 21 provides for necessary vibration isolation needed to protect precision instruments, the shear stressed rubber providing a soft suspension, yet

A' allowing stability in rthe other modes of travel.

ameter of 3,@2 inch andthe inside diameter of the air chamber 24 was approximately '//16 inch, which gave a ratio'of the diameterofor'ice to diameter of air chamber tif-approximately '1214.' A twenty-live pound load was mounted Von the `prototypemount and satisfactory vibration isolation was observed over a frequency range of 0 to'SOO cycles per second, withA an applied force of 10g (lg'=.O5llDy2 where'D istotalV excursion and f i frequency in cycles per second). Y f 'Referring again to Figs. land 2'ofth'e drawings, thereV is shown two parallel shafts'27 which are in, a plane parallel to base 12, fitted into bossportions 28 'ofr the four vertical tubes 17. '-Referring now to Figs. l and 4 it can be seen that each shaft 27 carries a carriage member,

ing member 31by means 'offour'screws 32. A tube form l mounting, which isdesignated generally by referencel numeral 14 and which is composed of a rubber element7'2 Vbonded between an inner sleeve 22 and an outer sleeve 23, has its outer sleeve 23' press fitted into the tubemounting member 36, the innerfsleeve 22'3being closely'tted anddisposed aboutithe shaft 27. Snubbingfwashers-IS n, teaching.

The bearing member 31, which is part of the carriage member 29 is provided with nylon bearings 33 that have inside diameters that are only slightly larger than the outside diameter of the shaft 27. 33 restrict the carriage members 29 to a direction of travel which is parallel to the shaft v27 and provide an extremely smooth bearing surface that .alfords very low' friction and eliminates the need of lubrication. n

Referring now to Figs. Zand 4, it can be seen that a second pair of'parallel shafts 34, 'which'are parallel'to the base :l2 and perpendicular to the iirstpair of parallelk shafts 27, are lfixed -to the two'carriage'rnembers 29, which constrains the two carriage members "29 so that they move in unison vand in elfect make thema single element.

A'mounting plater35 is carried on the second pair of parallel shafts 34 in a manner similar to that employed in carrying the carriage members '29 on their shafts 27. lt can be-'seen in Fig. 2 that the vibration isolation is accomplished by a tube form mounting-14 and that nylon bearings 33gare provided to givessmooth bearing surfaces. A precisioninstrument 36, such as a vgyroscope Ycanbe mounted tothe top of the mounting 'plate'35, and it can readily be vseen that the instrument, which is Ymounted thereon, can translate in any orall 'of three mutually perpendicular directions and thatV no rotational effect will be given the instrument. Y

lIn operation, the base 12 of the shock and vibration absorber Vdisclosed herein, is vfixed to the deck or bulkhead of a ship or aircraft and va-precision instrument 36 such as a gyroscope, is xedrigidly to the `top of the mounting plate 35. Any vibration which is transmitted tothe base 12 of the absorber will be Yabsorbed by theY tube form mountings 14, -and'if a shock 'of large magnitude Vis received the novel iiuid dampening means disclosed `herein will provide an additional absorber which4 will help protect the precision instrument.

lObviously Vmany lmodifications andV variations of the present'invention are possible yin the light of the above For example, in the embodiment shown 'in the drawings, the novel iiuid dampening means were employed togiveprotection'in the vertical'direction only. It `is obviousthat identical iiuid'dampening means could readily be adapted to give'additional protection in eitherk or both horizontal directions.

herein shows an Vembodiment ywherein translation is restricted to three mutually perpendicular directions and it should beunderstoodthat there is no intention to so limit this invention'tothis preferred embodiment, butthat the combination of the novel fluid l dampening vmeans 'and the resilient mounting means c'ould'be employedin many other typesof 'absorbers wherein rotational motion need not `be restricted. Also itis apparent that other iiuid means such as theruse of variousfliquidscould vbe 'employed for dampening of` lshocksand ithereis! no intention to restrict the pres -:nt'inventionv to air dampening means alone. invention may be practicedotherwise'thanas specifically described. f

yWhatis claimed is:

l. Afshock andvibrationf'absorber comprising: a base;

a plurality of shafts -mounted perpendicular Ato said baseya plurality-oflvertical tubes slidably-supported one each on' each of said shafts,'each said vertical tube'having at least one fluid Vchamber` therein for dampening movement -offsaid tube; a-rst 'pair ofparallel 'shaftsV rigidly-'connected tos'aid'vertical tubes in aplane paral- The nylon bearings The invention disclosed It is therefore "to 'be understood' that 'thel lel to said base; 'rst and second carriage members slidably mounted one each on each of said parallel shafts; a second pair of parallel shafts rigidly connected to said carriage members in a plane parallel to said base and perpendicular to said first pair of parallel shafts; a mounting plate member slidably mounted on said second pair of parallel shafts; and means for resisting movement of said carriage members and said mounting plate member.

2. A shock and vibration absorber as set forth in claim l wherein said means for resisting movement of said carriage members and said mounting plate member comprises tube form mountings and rst and second abutments on each of said shafts, said tube form mountings comprising a rubber element bonded between inner and outer sleeves, said inner sleeves being disposed about 15 6 said shafts between said rst and second abutments, and said outer sleeves being attached to the respective member that is being resisted in movement.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNTED STATES PATENTS 1,036,519 Clallane Aug. 20, 1912 1,731,412 Froesch Oct. 15, 1929 2,538,658 Saurer Jan. 16, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 498,043 Germany May 17, 1930 714,386 Germany Nov. 28, 1941 1,047,112 France July 15, 1953 

